Shaeiki: Draugur Myrkrinu
by Reyna-Mirai
Summary: My name is Emil Steilsson and some of my "family" has gone missing. My brother went missing and a ghost appeared in my house. A Japanese man's camera saved me from this ghost. The camera and the ghost led me to believe that there's a reason for my family's disappearance. With the help of the Japanese man, I'll find my family with the camera in my hands. (Inspired by Fatal Frame)
1. Prologue

Warning: This is not human AU and some facts may be wrong about history. If this chapter receives favourable feedback, I'll continue to update, other wise I'll delete it.

* * *

My name is Emil Steilsson, and some of my "family" has gone missing.

Two months ago, Tino Vainamoine disappeared without a trace. The rest of us went into a frantic search for the Finnish man. Some say he disappeared in a forest in Iceland. If Tino had any reason to visit Iceland, I would've known but I don't know anything about his visit to my country.

Two weeks after the first, Berwald Oxenstierna went missing. After Tino's disappearance, the tall Swedish man wouldn't stop until he found him as he is the closest to the Finn. He went to investigate the forest in Iceland, and unlike Tino, he had the nerve to tell me about his investigation. I would've offered my help since I'm basically Iceland, but he said that its too risky. Look where he is now.

About three weeks ago, Mathias Kohler became the next MIA. The foolish Dane was really affected by the disappearances and he kept saying how it is his responsibility as the "King of Northern Europe" to find the Finn and the Swede. After Berwald, Mathias also told me he wanted to investigate the forest himself. I tried insisting that I should come and I don't need any protecting as this is my home, but he kept treating me like a child and went off by himself. Idiot.

That leaves me and…Lukas Bondevik, my real Norwegian brother. He kept insisting that he stay at my house until everyone is found again, and he kept saying that as an older brother he has a responsibility of keeping me safe. He thinks that I'm a weak child that should be protected.

In fact, everyone says that I'm just a child that needs protection.

The rain is pouring hard here in Iceland as I'm sitting by the windows of my room. Mr. Puffin is currently sleeping in his own bed that I made him. I can't sleep even if I tried, and its already past midnight.

I won't admit it, but the disappearances of my "family" has made me depressed. Even more so because they disappeared here in Iceland, and I'm this nation's personification.

Damn it to hell.

We are all personifications of the nations we live on. If anything really bad happens to us, what would happen to the nation and its people? Prussia is still living right now even though the nation dissolved, and its because Ludwig took the landmass for himself, maybe to prevent Gilbert from dying. All that because Gilbert lost a battle. Ancient Rome, Feliciano and Lovino's grandfather, is dead because of the declining power that he used to hold. Holy Roman Empire is also dead because Francis defeated him in war.

Thinking about that, so far nothing has happened to Finland, Sweden, or Denmark. The landmasses I mean. That gives us a bit of hope that Tino, Berwald, and Mathias are still alive.

I then heard quiet knocks from my door. Obviously, I know its the one who hasn't disappeared on me yet, as he and I are the only nordics left.

"Emil." His voice being muffled from the other side, "I'm coming in."

At this point I couldn't care if anyone were to enter my room. As an isolated nation, I always prefer to be alone and up here in my room where I could be by myself. Now, I could barely care.

Maybe because I left my door unlocked.

I looked back to the Norwegian, "What do you want?"

"I'm just checking to see if you are alright." He quickly stood next to me as he looked at me with those dull navy blue eyes of his, "So, are you?"

Lukas is…I don't know what to call him. He is so emotionless and his dull eyes makes it extremely difficult to think what this guy is thinking. He's not that boring though, I have to admit.

I shifted my eyes to the ground, "…I'm fine."

"Emil. Please, I'm really concerned for you, little brother. You are definitely not fine." He lifted up my chin with his fingers, "I can tell just from looking at you. Anyone can."

I looked away from his eyes, "If you can tell from looking at me, then you should answer your own question."

" _Emil Steilsson_ ," He moved his face closer, "Look at me right now and don't you dare talk back to me at a time like this!"

I winced at his increasingly angry voice. Lukas is the really calm one with elegance to his character.

He's not fine himself.

"Those three disappeared within Iceland, your nation, and I heard from the higher officials of this place that the nations in question are blaming _you_ for the disappearances. For two months, you have been unresponsive and unusually eager to help look, but its extremely risky for you to disappear."

"So what?!" I yelled, "Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to look for my family in my _own damn nation?!_ All of you have been saying that I can't help, because Its dangerous for me and for the country. Well guess what Lukas, I'm being torn apart here! Its my fault my family is gone!"

I snapped. I snapped the moment he mentioned that its risky for me to disappear.

Luckily for me, Mr. Puffin is an extremely heavy sleeper. Even metal rock music to its highest volume won't wake him up.

I sighed and continued with my voice lowered down, "For two months, all of you have been saying that I can't help because of the risks. I'm no child anymore, I'm strong enough to look for them. However, no one lets me. Simply because I'm a so called weak child that needs protection 24-7."

Lukas just looked straight into me, his chin still close to mine. Then in a moment, he loosened his grip on my face to only grab on to my shoulders in a more calm manner.

"What I said earlier…I would say if I'm speaking to you as a nation." He sighed, "Emil, I'm worried about you. None of us wants you to get hurt. Especially me, I'm your older brother whether you like it or not." He then pulled me into a tight but comforting embrace. He is warm, with a sense of familiarity that I love. He then went over to my ear.

"I'm scared of losing you."

Just hearing those words, my eyes teared up. Normally I can hide my emotions well almost like Lukas but unlike him there are many occasions where I lose it and snap all my feelings outside.

And this is one such occasion.

I looked to the ground and sobbed, "I-its my fault…Its my fault…w-what should I do…"

I felt his hand comforting the back of my head as I sobbed continuously into his chest. I then felt another hand rubbing my back smoothly.

"Its not your fault, and it will never be your fault for this…They are still alive, I know it. There's still hope, little brother."

Until now, I never knew what really placed me in that depression. I never admitted it because I don't know why.

Now I know, the situation has me under panic. I was being blamed for all of this and maybe knowing that, It made it harder for me to seek help myself.

I guess I'm still a brat that won't admit his own mistakes.

One of those mistakes is that I'm getting extremely stressed at this without letting anyone know.

What I also realised from this…is that Lukas can be a good big brother. He may look like he's never interested in anything ever but in the end, he's just selfish towards what he wants.

And what he wants is for our family to be together again.

After such a lengthy touching session (Holding my chin, holding my shoulders, and hugging me. Get your minds off the gutters) he turned away and headed for the door.

I then saw him facing me over his shoulder, "Also. I'm not hearing a 'big brother'. Say it, you know you want to." I turned red at his teasingly, almost devilish smirk as he said that.

"Oh God…Lukas, at a time like this…? Like I said before, I won't say it!"

With that he looked away and left my room, closing the door behind him. I swear, I can feel that devilish smirk on his face. I decided to shake my head off of this and sat down on my bed.

"Same old Lukas…" I said to myself, looking down. However, the more I think about it, the more worried I get.

…No, I'm just thinking of multiple possibilities.


	2. Chapter 1

I awoke in the morning feeling sore in my stomach. Its not like I have a stomach ache or anything, and its not burning up like what volcanic activity does to me. Non of that at all.

Its Mr. Puffin jumping on my stomach like a trampoline.

I swear to god, the strength that this bird has is abnormally off the charts. His feet may be smooth, but the pressure on my stomach is like he's pumping something out of me.

"Wake up, you lazy head!"

That voice…I have always asked myself, 'Did this bird somehow went to Italy and learned from the mafia?'. He even hijacked one of the songs I was singing a long time ago. This bird may be the definition of death metal.

"Stop it!" I yelled out, "Are you trying to squeeze my organs out?!"

"Oh I'm sorry, sleeping beauty!" His sass made me wince, "So I shouldn't inform you that I can't find Lukas anywhere in this house!"

"What?!" I sat up immediately in my shock, with Mr. Puffin jumping off me and landing on the ground with a thud (he called me stupid once he stood up again).

On to matters though, Lukas is not here?

"What do you mean he's not here?" I looked at him on the ground. He stared back with his wings spreading in and out uncharacteristically of him.

"Exactly what I said, he's not here!" He flew to the bed, "I woke up much earlier than you. I was on my way to the kitchen to find some liquorice when I saw the door to Lukas's room open. I peeked in and…"

He paused. He never pauses like that.

"Mr. Puffin, what the hell happened?!"

"Take a look at his room!" He flew in front of my face, "I'm going to sacrifice my pride for this, but I'm begging you!"

For Mr. Puffin to practically beg me in order to check out Lukas's room…Although I know he would never let this up if I were to talk about it.

I know I can't, cause now I'm in a situation.

I shot out of bed and was forced into the bathroom by the bird (He says that hygiene is still important. I would've gone in without his help anyway). I wore my usual clothes and headed straight out of my room.

My house is pretty large, its actually a mansion. My room is situated at the end of a long hallway, where the rooms for guests are situated at the other end of the aforementioned hallway.

I had to run, seeing as how Mr. Puffin won't shut up about hurrying up.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" The bird landed on my shoulder, "He'll disappear if you slow down!"

Hold on.

"Who will disappear?" I stared at him.

"Just look!"

When I reached Lukas's room, I noticed that the door is slightly open and how unusually dark the inside looks, despite being morning right now.

I slowly opened the door further, but the room is still really dark. Too dark to even see.

"Mr. Puffin, how can you see if the room is this dark?" I muttered so quietly that he didn't hear me.

Why is his room so dark now? Lukas has a love for mythology yes, and he claims that he uses magic on a frequent basis (I still don't believe him about that) but is there any reason to darken the room?

"H-hello?" I said out loud but to only meet silence.

I then stared at the bird on my right shoulder, "Are you sure there's someone here?"

"I wouldn't lie to you!" He does have a point. Mr. Puffin is brutally honest most of the time and I really don't think he would lie in a situation like this.

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I can see something on top of the bed. Looks like a tall figure with tattered clothes and a horrible distorted face…

What the hell is that thing?!

My body started to quaver uncontrollably, what I'm looking at is a horribly distorted person with the face of the screamer and the right arm is seriously twisted unnaturally.

Why is that thing there instead of Lukas?!

"Where's Lukas?! What did you do to him?!" I yelled out in rage, "What are you?!"

Right after I yelled that, the thing started walking down the bed and slowly approaching me while staggering. At this point, fear kicked in me and I slammed the door, leaning against it.

"What the hell is that thing?! Why is it in my house?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Calm down!" Mr. Puffin yelled in my ear.

I can't calm down, how can I calm down when I saw that monster in my house?!

I needed to seek help. Just before I stood up properly, I saw one arm next to me and grabbed my neck forcefully.

I then realised that I'm being strangled by the monster.

"Gah! A-a-ack…"I struggled breathing when the hand of that monster is trying to close up my throat, "H-h-help…!"

The monster started to scream but it was unlike any ordinary scream, it was haunting in my ears and my fear amplified even more.

"Emil!" Mr. Puffin left my shoulder and started flying. He then went to hand and tried pecking it, however the monster is even more sturdy than I though it would be.

"Damn it!" Mr. Puffin flew back, "I-It's going to kill you!"

He's right, this monster is going to kill me if this keeps up! I struggled in trying to break free, but the arm is too damn strong. My sight started to dim and my mind is leaving me…I can't breath…

"Emil-san!"

I heard someone yell, and a bright flash filled my sight. When the flash happened, the monster's grip on my suddenly loosed and the arm retreated back through the door. When my sight became clear again, I saw a familiar man in front of me holding a camera.

It was Kiku Honda, or Japan.

"Emil-san, are you ok?" He extended his hand out to me. I took a while since I had to get my breathing back. When I felt like I could breath again, I grabbed his hand and stood up. Mr. Puffin flew away to the nearest celling.

"Kiku…? What're you doing here?" My voice still low, I coughed a bit.

"I'll explain it to you later, Emil-san." He raised that camera up, "I need to get rid of the ghost in that room."

"Ghost…?"

Before I can ask any further, he shoved me aside and stood right in front of the door. He then looked at me with those brown eyes of his, and I can sense anger from him.

"The moment I open this door, that ghost will come out. I need you to step outside."

I've had enough of that 'safety' bullshit, "No. I'm staying here. That…monster…invaded my home, and did something to Lukas. Whether you like it or not, I'm not going anywhere until you do your thing with that monster."

He stared at me, as if he's trying to rebut me. I stared back at him, determined to make my word clear to him that I won't take it anymore.

"…Fine. But please stand back."

I nodded and took a few steps back, my heart started pumping loudly and quickly. That strangling earlier made my heart pound really quickly.

When Kiku opened the door, the monster immediately lunged himself towards the Japanese man. Kick moved quickly to the side as I saw him focusing his camera on the monster. The ghost made small walks towards the Japanese man, and it looks like its struggling to walk in a straight line.

Once I saw the monster standing directly in front of Kiku, the camera clicked and a loud flash covered the area. I saw the monster staggering back, appearing in pain from the camera flash. In its struggle, the monster swiped it's left over towards him and pushed him with a lot of force. He landed on the ground while the camera flew from his grip and ended up sliding to my feet.

I picked up the camera in a haste and the monster immediately saw me. It started to stagger its way towards me and I automatically looked through the camera. Through the view, I see a circle that keeps glowing blue and white simultaneously.

"Emil-san, wait for the right moment!"

Taking in his words, I kept the camera focused on the monster. When I looked at it carefully, the monster looks like a man that has the appearance of a horrible distorted screamer from that famous painting. It has no eyes, but I can feel those dark sockets sending shilling vibes down my spine.

The circle surged in a light blue, is this what Kiku meant as 'the right moment'? In my confusion, the monster is dangerously close to me. That distorted face is amplifying my fear again.

"Now!"

Hearing Kiku's yell, I clicked the trigger on the camera and a loud flash surrounded the monster. It staggered back as I removed the camera from my eyes.

The monster fell to its knees, its right arm bending unnaturally and its left arm covering its face. I stared at the monster as I saw its moment of agony. It felt…horrifying.

It faded away, leaving behind a mournful yell that quickly disappeared.

"What was that?!" Mr. Puffin flew to me, "That was cool!"

"That was definitely not cool!" I argued back. I faced Kiku, who stood up from the ground and he approached me.

"Are you ok?" He asked me while eying the camera I'm holding.

"Yes." I nodded, "But what was that-"

"We are still not done yet, the room is still pitch black." Kick pointed to the open room, which is still dark even though the monster is gone. He approached the room without entering it, with me behind him, and Mr. Puffin flying behind me.

"Emil-san." He spoke to me without looking back, "I want you to look at this room through the Shaeiki."

"The sha…what?" I got confused by his wording. I know its a Japanese name, but I don't know what it means.

"Shaeiki." He looked at me over his shoulder, "Or as others might say, the Camera Obscura."

"Oh."

Kiku moved out of the way for me to enter the room slowly. When I looked through the camera, the room suddenly became well-lit like it should've been in this time in the morning.

"Look around the room, there should be something odd that caused the darkness."

Slowly and carefully, I looked at the room through this mysterious camera. The vision of this camera is limited because it has a small lens screen, so I have to really look at every nook and cranny of the room. When I focused on the window, I saw a small blue cloud covering in front of it.

"Ok Kiku, I can see this weird blue cloud covering the window. What should I do?"

"Take a picture of it. Its the spirit of the exorcised ghost."

So it was a ghost…following his word, I took a quick shot at the blue cloud. When I saw the picture that I just took, I started seeing images.

* * *

 _A man is running through a long wooden hallway. He is clutching his badly twisted right arm._

 _"_ _I-I have to get away!" The man yelled, "Please! Don't kill me! I-I only wandered here by mistake!"_

 _He was approaching a door that lay at the far end of the hallway, when someone stopped him. A woman wearing white and she has a distorted smile on her face._

 _The woman grabbed the man's face with her shockingly pale hands. The woman's face approached the man's face closer and closer…_

 _The man screamed his last voice._

* * *

Hearing that blood curdling scream and looking at that man's face filled with absolute horror, I snapped back to reality by the shock. My breathing became loud and I looked at the ground, scared from that experience. I saw the camera on the ground, so it must mean that I dropped it when I had that vision.

His voice even sounded Icelandic.

I felt a hand landing softly on my shoulder, "That was…the last moments of that man. The ghost you exorcised."

"W-why am I seeing this…?" I looked to Kiku, "W-why…what in the world is happening?"

After calming myself down through deep breaths, I took a look around the room. Only now I noticed that the lighting is back to normal.

What I noticed from the room is that is messed up. The bed sheets are on the ground, the drawers of the dresser have fallen to the ground, the curtain has a lot of rips, and the window is broken with glass shards on the ground.

This is not what I saw through the camera at all.

"How come the room is like this…" I paused as I look at the grounded camera, "when I saw it differently earlier?

"Its the effect of the camera." I saw Kiku bending down to pick the camera up, "This camera allows the user to see those that are of the other side, as well as looking at the truest form of environments touched by the beings of the other side."

I'm starting to get it, "So…that ghost…it was a man who was murdered. An Icelandic man…" I felt sad, knowing that one of my people was murdered in a horrible way.

"Emil-san, was someone staying in this room before that ghost appeared?" Kiku stood up.

I nodded, "It was Lukas. he was staying with me ever since Mathias disappeared."

"He did not go without a fight. It appears that the ghost arrived here and was targeting your brother. He was trying to defend himself but he failed."

He's right, the mess in this room proves it. However, I don't feel satisfied knowing that. The more I think about what happened here, the angrier I get. I even felt hurt knowing it.

"Why didn't he call for help?!" I clenched my fists, "If I knew that something like this would happen last night, I would've helped him! He would still be here, giving me that everyday boring expression…talking all about magic and that norse mythology crap…and continue to pester me to call him big brother…"

This hurts so bad…my heart is aching.

"I think Lukas kept himself in the room because he doesn't want the ghost to go after you. I may not know too much about you guys, but I know that Lukas is the type to protect his family. He would do anything to protect you, as you are the only one left for him."

I'm the only one left for him…he protected me, because I'm his last family…

Yet, I failed to protect him.

"Emil-san, let's go to the living room. I have to discuss with you about the situation."

* * *

Kiku and I are sitting down on the sofas in the living room. The camera is placed on the coffee table with Mr. Puffin sitting next to it. I also ordered Mr. Puffin to shut his beak for this moment, and he agreed. (Not without anymore profanities though).

"Emil-san, in order to make sense of why I'm here, I need to talk about what happened more than 100 years ago."

I nodded, "Go on, if it will make any sense to this situation, then I'll let you talk to your heart's content."

"A paranormal investigator in my country is trying to discover ways to capture spirits in image form. In his research, he has successfully developed the Shaeiki, or the Camera Obscura if you want. The camera's function is to let the user see spirits that are still roaming in the living world."

"Wait." I interrupted, "I saw that ghost before you arrived with your camera. How was I still able to see the ghost then?"

"There are ghosts that are naked to the normal eyes. However, there are also ghosts that are very powerful, whether it be through lingering regret, dying while in extreme fear, or an unsolved rage towards something or someone in the living world. These powerful ghosts are hostile, wanting to attack anything living to let them experience the pain they are in. In fact, there are even extremely powerful ghosts that can order around weaker ones. When these ghosts want to attack, they'll make themselves visible to the living."

"I thought that those types of ghosts are stuck to the place they died." I interrupted again, "What I saw earlier, the area is nothing like anywhere in my house."

"They are tied to the place they died in. Which is why I question the ghost in your house. He did not appear to die here, if he did then you would've noticed a long time ago. Whatever ghost sent that one to this house, it must have taken a lot of power to do such an action."

It will take a lot of power to send one ghost from one location to another…

"Ok Kiku." I said, "Please go on."

"The success of the camera being able to take pictures of spirits, as well as a surprise function of exorcising spirits, has convinced the man to make more of these cameras so that other people can use them. However, after making more cameras, the creator discovered that the more you use the camera to capture spirits, the more vulnerable the users are to the other side. Afterwards, the creator stopped making the cameras and they are now a rare collector's item."

So this Camera Obscura is the result of a man's research of wanting to take pictures of spirits. However, the side-effects were enough to stop production. I bet that the more people use this camera, the more worried and paranoid they got. After all those people can see ghosts, its enough to make someone insane.

"Years later, a wealthy father who lives in a mansion found one of the cameras thinking that it is simply an antique collection. The father's family are known collectors of antique items. In curiosity, each family member in the mansion tried out the camera. It consists of the father, the mother, the older son, and the youngest daughter. The whole family started seeing things they shouldn't see, and they even passed on this sort of influence unknowingly to their close ones and this influence caused the close ones to either go insane or get killed.."

"So what did that family do?"

"The father made a verdict, that they should all live separately from each other. They can do this since the son and daughter are already working adults at that time, and everyone is starting to become paranoid. So the father used his vast wealth to build mansions in different countries, and sent each member of his family to live in different countries."

I know that the father is acting our of desperation and safety, but there are better ways of solving this situation instead of sending his wife and kids to different areas! They could research more about the camera, they could consult with an occultist, heck if they understood the camera they would have a means to fight back!

I'm getting riled up after hearing that the family had to separate. I don't take separation too well, even though I'm an isolated country. I would've questioned Kiku why he told me this story of that family, but I decided to wait as he said that he needs to explain the history of the events related to this camera.

"Time passed since each family member had to separate, and they were content with isolation if it means that they won't have any more paranoid feelings. However, soon the family started dying. The son died first, followed by the mother, then the daughter, and finally the father. Their deaths were mysterious and still remain unsolved to this day."

Kiku's story makes sense but why does he know all of this?

"Wait a minute, Kiku." I interrupted for the second time, "How come you know all of this? Are you involved with that situation somehow…?"

"I found out about this when I was asked to help for an investigation. The investigation revolves around the death of a man who lives alone in a secluded mansion, back in Japan. That man is the father. I…don't want to explain that right now, but that investigation is where I found out about the camera, and the man's family. Through more research, I've heard rumours that one of the members went to a european country but I can't find which country exactly."

After I heard that, I felt myself knowing a bit about what he is about to say next…truthfully, I'm scared that he'll mention the disappearances but I managed to keep my emotions at bay.

"When I heard 2 months ago that Tino-kun, Berwald-san, and Mathias-kun went missing, I was curious. The story of the family I told you earlier was never in any news media because of the mysterious history and lack of records, so nobody knows its true nature."

That story was never in any news media? Now that I think about it, the higher officials of Finland, Sweden, and Denmark refused to say anymore about the disappearances other than the fact that they disappeared here in Iceland.

Now I realised something I missed: Nobody was able to enter their houses to investigate. The higher officials closed down their houses since they are investigating it themselves but the lack of news makes me doubt that they are doing anything at all. Some people might have seen pitch black rooms inside the houses, just like the guest room a while ago, and figured that it is not safe so they closed down the houses.

That made me realise that ghosts must have entered their homes at some point. However, Tino was seen here in Iceland and the last time I saw Berwald and Mathias was also here in Iceland.

Won't that mean that they fought off the ghosts and went investigate here knowing what was happening? So the reason Tino never told me he went here is because of his experience with that ghost, and didn't want to drag anyone with him. Berwald found rumours about a forest here, and went to investigate himself maybe knowing that whatever happened to Tino also happened to him. I think Mathias, after that experience, felt horrified that something like that happened to Tino and Berwald, so he also investigated.

If Tino chose to investigate here in my country from that experience, then the ghosts that attacked them are Icelandic.

"They're houses were closed off from everyone without a reason. I think the ghosts attacked those three at some time period, and went here to investigate why. They can't get back to their houses, as there are also pitch black rooms. The ghost that attacked us earlier and the ghosts that attacked them are Icelandic people, by the accent." I sighed and looked at the Japanese man, "Does that mean that you have a theory that one of the family members used to live here in Iceland?"

"Its just a theory, but it makes a lot of sense." He looked up to the ceiling, "Iceland is a country far from the other european countries, and it has a small population."

That's true.

"So you came here to see if your theory holds true, and you came to see me…why?"

"Emil-san, I want you to help me." He grabbed the camera from the table, "I want to investigate the theory, and I know that you want to find everyone else. You can use the camera like I can, except that since this is your country I feel that the camera would work better for you this time. Since earlier that ghost resisted my attack and managed to almost defeat me if you haven't intervened. I was also about to ask Lukas-san for help but…he's also gone. So…please help me."

So that's it…he came here to investigate more about this family, and he knew that the disappearances are tied to the mystery. However, I'm getting a lot of questions about this…

"Why do they need them? Why do they need us?" I lowered my head, "Do they need us for something? Why are we the targets? Do they know that we are personification of nations? Kiku, I won't rest easy if I don't know the answers."

"So you'll agree to help me investigate and save your family?" He said while smiling and handing me the camera. I looked at his smiling face and then to the camera.

That was when I smirked myself, and grabbed the camera from Kiku's hands.

"I'll save them. You can do what you want with your objective, but mine is to have my family back."

Kiku nodded and stood up looking a bit more proud, "Then we leave for that forest today. I think Its called he…hed…uh…its somewhere in the capital…um re..rek…"

"Heiðmörk in Reykjavik." I said for him, "Its close by this house, but bringing a car would catch attention. Walking would be around 2 hours more or less. Running would take 1 hour more or less. Its also not a good idea to commute, as that will also catch attention. Our best bet is to leave right now."

"Ok, Emil-san…Um…" Kiku interrupted, "Pardon for asking this but how come you know that? The walking and running, I mean."

"When I don't feel like isolating myself in this house, I just…walk." I then picked up Mr. Puffin, "I'll gather some things first, and I'll meet you down here."

Kiku nodded as I headed upstairs to my room. When I entered my room and closed the door behind me, Mr. Puffin flew up to my face.

"Are you crazy?!" He yelled out, "After that ghost experience, you and that asian boy will get hurt! Speaking of that asian boy, can you seriously trust him?"

I looked at the bird before moving to the closet, "Kiku is mostly the serious type. The story that he told, and the ghost here earlier, matches up. If I'm going to find everyone, then Kiku is my best bet."

I opened the closet and grabbed a brown satchel bag that's hanging from a clothes hanger. I placed the Camera Obscura inside and I proceeded to my work desk. From the main drawer, I grabbed a blue covered journal. The journal was a recent gift from Mathias, as he said that he noticed that my old one is going to be full soon. I soon smacked him for even looking at it.

"Why are you bringing that?" Mr. Puffin asked.

I placed the journal in the satchel bag, "Recording purposes. I'm going to write down what I'm going to experience, so that I won't forget it. I just have to be careful of Mathias snooping around, again."

"So you got everything you need so that we can go?"

"I'm going to bring some bottles of water and some of Lukas's home-made pastries, so that food and water won't be a problem for tonight. Also," I looked at the puffin, "You are staying here."

"Huh?!" The bird panicked, "Why?! Without me, you'll be weak! I'm much stronger than you are!"

"Mr. Puffin." I grabbed the bird, "You have been with me ever since I was a newly discovered country. You and I may not see the same right now, or even have the same personalities, but I would never let you get hurt."

I then pulled the bird closer, so that he will look directly at me.

"I don't want to have to worry about you, as I'm already worrying about everyone else. If I know that you are here safe and sound, then that'll be one less thing to worry about."

I'm serious about this. Mr. Puffin could be called a childhood friend of mine, and if he gets hurt, then I go nuts over him. He may talk like a mafia guy, is absolutely prideful, and likes to talk back to me…

He's too important to me.

"…Fine, you win, tough guy." I released him from my grip and he flew up, "But if you go missing too, I'm taking this house for myself and I'll be called Iceland!"

I made a small chuckle, "Then I have to make sure that I'm back so that I can still be called Iceland."

Afterwards, I walked down to the kitchen to grab some bottles of water and some of the pastries Lukas bakes. I would never say this in front of his face but his pastries are absolutely delicious and I can't get enough of it. Maybe Kiku would like it as well.

When I'm all done preparing, I met up with the Japanese man in the living room.

He stood up from the couch, "Are you ready?"

"You don't have to ask."

He and I went out of the mansion and as I was about to lock the door, I saw Mr. Puffin standing on the railings of the 3rd floor balcony.

"You better get back, do you hear me _Emil Steilsson_?!" he squawked out, "I swear to god, if you go fuckin' missing on me, I'll take your place as Iceland and turn this country into a mafia!"

I gave the small bird a small smile, "Food's in the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever you like, ok? See you later."

Waving bye to the bird, Kiku and I started to walk our way to Heiðmörk in order to solve this mystery.


	3. Chapter 2

Night time loomed over us as we walked through the forest.

Even though Kiku and I left the house in the morning, we were having trouble of knowing where exactly we needed to look in the forest.

We can't ask any of the locals, but the older ones kept asking us if we are heading to the forest (Since Kiku can't understand Icelandic, I have to do most of the talking). From the older ones, we discovered a rumour about a mansion hidden in the very depths of Heiðmörk that would only be found if someone wandered there aimlessly.

So that ghost from my house discovered the building by simply wandering there by mistake.

We also discovered from the older locals that recently, a lot of people have wandered into the forest and hasn't come back yet.

I'm starting to fear the worst.

"The family has no name." The Japanese man suddenly interrupted the silence of the night. I looked at him with a confused face.

"Huh?"

"The family is nameless, if you are wondering why I never mentioned their names in my story earlier. In order to keep themselves isolated even further, they erased all accounts of their names which is one of the reasons why this family has no records."

"Didn't you say earlier that you investigated the father's place? Wouldn't you find out his real name?"

"During my investigation, I found notes from the father. Whenever a note is meant to mention his name, it is crossed out and unreadable." He looked at the ground and sighed, "That's one of the things I'm also trying to find out. I want to know if any other members of his family has records of their real names. I know for a fact that they are Japanese."

Kiku's really serious about finding out more about this mysterious family from his nation. I wonder…what that investigation he did…did to him?

What will this experience do to me?

"Hey Kiku, can you tell me more about your investigation?" I asked but he turned to me and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to tell anyone right now what I've been through." He looked at me with unusually sad eyes before looking straight ahead in his path.

I guess I have to leave him alone about that topic. I just wish I knew though…

As we continue our way in Heiðmörk without knowing what direction we are going, I began to think about how Lukas named this place back in 1950 when he arrived by surprise to observed the then new area of Reykjavik.

* * *

 _"_ _Hmm…this is the biggest forest I've seen in the nation." I looked around, "What should I call it…?"_

 _"_ _Thinking of a name, Emil?"_

 _I looked behind me to see Lukas approaching me, without an expression on his face as usual._

 _"_ _W-why would you care?" I turned away from him, "This is a new municipal conservation area of Reykjavik. It doesn't concern you. So if you may, please leave me alone."_

 _I was about to walk away when I felt a hand on my shoulder, "And this conservation area has no name yet. I came here to check up if you are fine, and I heard that you are examining this area."_

 _"_ _Well I'm fine, and there's no need to check up on me, "I scoffed, "I can handle this by myself, I'm no child anymore."_

 _"_ _Well, in that case," He paused, "…I have a suggestion for a name. Why not call it Heiðmörk? Its derived from Hedmark, a county in Norway with deep forests."_

 _"_ _Heiðmörk…" When I said it, it somehow has that click in my tongue, almost as if it fits this forest. When I said it multiple times, I can see Lukas smile._

 _"_ _You observed the area well, but you need help with naming. That's what big brother is for. Remember, big brother." He released his grip from my shoulder but he went close to my ear, "Big brother, big brother, big brother…"_

 _"_ _Shut up!" I took a few steps away from him while feeling hot in my cheeks, "First of all, I'm still not saying that! Second, you suck at naming! You called me freakin' Iceland when you came here! Real imaginative name there!"_

 _"_ _Don't blame me, blame Hrafna-Flóki." He took a few steps closer to me, "He told me that he saw from the high mountain that the fjord was filled with pack ice. You seemed satisfied by the name I gave you when you were really small."_

 _"_ _I blame you vikings…" I muttered angrily, "And stop moving closer to me, its creepy!"_

 _"_ _Big brother, big brother…"_

* * *

"Emil-san."

Suddenly, I found my self blinking and staring straight ahead without focus. I must have daydreamed…or night-dreamed, that memory of Lukas giving me that name, but I also know that it became creepy after his suggestion…

"Emil-san, are you ok?"

I looked at the ground first, then I looked at the Japanese man, "I-I'm fine. I was just thinking of something that this place reminds me of."

I felt horrible after having that memory come back to me at a situation like this. This is the forest Lukas named, and this is the same forest where Lukas and the others disappeared to.

I feel so conflicted at this.

"Anyways," Kiku interrupted, "We are already here, it seems."

That woke me up completely. I slowly looked up in front of me and what I saw didn't really make me stare in awe or yell out.

I grabbed the camera out of my satchel, "So this is…"

Its the mansion where everyone disappeared to.

"It is." Kiku nodded, "It is much wider than taller. Well, it has to be that way since it'll be very noticeable from a distance if its any higher than 2 floors."

The mansion is indeed wide. The gate and brick fence itself that surrounds the whole building is probably the largest square area I have ever seen. Plus, with the over abundance of trees in this one area, the mansion is hard to see from an eye level and from a bird's eye view.

I also have to admit, if whoever owns this mansion places it in a more open area near volcanoes or a lava field, then it would make it less obvious to find it. However, for the area to be a bit near Reykjavik…

Did this person have a plan?

Kiku walked ahead of me towards the gates, probably to observe it.

Meanwhile, I stared at the camera in my hands. It looks anciently old and has a bit of rust on its outer form, but when I used it earlier this morning it was working well. I wonder what that paranormal investigator did to make such a camera like this…? It certainly made impact towards occult enthusiasts and maybe if that guy could tell other people his methods of making this camera, then it would be one of the greatest inventions today.

If only this camera didn't affect everyone the way it affected this Japanese family.

"Emil-san, take a look." He called out, standing in front of the metallic gate.

The moment he called me, I quickly walked to him. He pointed out to the loose chain around the gate, as well as a rusty lock on the ground.

"A lot of people must have wondered here." He picked up the lock from the ground, "I'm sorry, Emil-san…"

I grabbed the lock from his hands and took a good look it at. The lock appears to be broken, most likely from overuse or perhaps someone at some point destroyed the lock. The ground where the lock was placed on was filled with footprints that tramples over other footprints.

To think so many people, _my people_ , went inside this mansion and was never heard from again…to begin with, this nation has roughly 340,000 citizens and that's incredibly low. I've never told anyone about this, but that low density population combined with active volcanoes has put my health down. I've never bothered mentioning this to anyone.

So when I heard that so many people wondered here and never returned, I felt my chest ache from both guilt and anger.

I mentioned earlier that this place is a bit near Reykjavik, the capital. Meaning its filled with people. If the person wanted to be more isolated, then maybe being near an active volcano would do the trick. I wonder what that person was thinking when deciding on a place to live in, here in Iceland?

I threw the lock down to the ground with a considerable force, surprising the Japanese man a bit, "Emil-san?"

"I'm ok, Kiku." I looked at him as I held the gate with anger in my face, "I…will avenge my people. When I find the killer in there, I swear to god I'll stop them from taking any more of my citizens."

"You will also find your family too." Kiku also held on to the gate, "As for me, I won't stop until I can find this family and figure out the mystery. if I can find this whole family, then these types of occurrences will stop haunting people of their lives. Us nations will be able to live in peace along with the citizens."

We both nodded at the same time, and then we opened the gate. Feeling a bit tense in my stomach, I went in after Kiku did albeit I was much slower. From the slow pace, I heard my footsteps becoming louder and louder…

When I finally went past the gate, I heard a metallic slam behind me and I instinctively looked back. I saw a blue fog enveloping the gate, and spreading itself over the brick fences.

Kiku quickly walked to the gate in an attempt to open it. However, the moment he touched the gate, he was pushed by an invisible force quite a distance away.

"Gah!" Then he landed on the ground. I immediately ran to his side.

I extended an arm to him, "Are you ok?"

"Yes." He grabbed my hand, "Thank you. However, it looks like we are trapped in here by that blue fog."

When I helped him stand up, I looked at the blue fog surrounding the only means to truly escape from this place. Its flowing over the fences slowly and almost covering my vision of the entire forest outside.

No going back.

"Let's proceed inside." I said while he nodded.

Since I'm the only one holding the only means of defence, I walked ahead of Kiku so that in case anything pops out I'll be able to take it with the Camera Obscura.

The door to the building itself is a bit of a walk, especially with our slow pace. We can't be too reckless in a place like this, especially if this is the same area where everyone disappeared to.

I noted myself of how everything is quiet. _Too quiet._ When the blue fog surrounded the area, the sounds of rustling leaves and the wind suddenly halt to a complete stop. Since the path to the door was made of concrete, I can hear my footsteps becoming even louder than ever. Every step I take is like a clock that is ticking with the loudest sound. Hearing my and Kiku's footsteps getting louder, I felt my heart beating faster and faster out of anticipation.

Its the same sensation of fear that I felt when I encountered that ghost in my house.

Finally reaching the door that felt like an eternity to get to, I stopped when I saw something odd imprinted on the doors. They are red papers with Japanese symbols on them, sticking to the door. I've seen these types of papers before, I heard that they are used as charms…?

"Ah some omamori…"I heard the Kiku mutter behind me.

I looked at him over my shoulder, "What are these? How come they are sticking to the door?"

"These are the special omamori, specifically used for trapping ghosts outside or from stopping ghosts from entering an area. In this case, these paper charms are stopping ghosts from leaving this mansion." He went closer to the door and touched one of the papers, "However, these are not enough to stop very powerful spirits, like the one that sent that ghost to your house."

"Were these also present in your own investigation?"

"Yes. However, they were placed differently." His answered swiftly, making it more obvious that he doesn't want to talk more about that.

Looking at Kiku, I noticed that his normal stoic expression changed to that of sadness in a matter of seconds after I asked my question. I'm feeling guilty for asking him a question that is related to his own investigation that happened a while ago, but its also really puzzling as to what that investigation is all about and what happened in his experience.

If he remained strong to help me even if he is a bit traumatised from his past experience…

Then I have to be strong for myself, for my people, for Kiku, and most of all, for my family.

I opened the door, which emitted a creaking sound that echoed inside. I entered slowly with Kiku following behind me and I heard the door closed, probably him.

The area is dark, but it has little lighting in the form of small candles. This whole area is a large foyer with a chandelier filled with crystals hanging from the celling, which is sparkling despite very limited lighting. There are big stairs in the middle leading to the second floor and right by the stairs are a few stone statues of dragons.

What caught my eye though, are the many paintings up on the wall and some tattered frames on the floor. Most, if not all paintings, are pitch black. Its like the blackness of the painting is covering what was originally there in the first place.

There's a door to my left, and I can see it open very slightly. I should start there, maybe It'll lead me somewhere where I should be.

"Emil-san." Kiku said, "I'll let you lead from here on out, since you are the one using the Shaeiki. I'll follow behind, and I'll make sure not to be a burden to you."

Him being a burden to me? Well…he is the one truly investigating this place while I'm here just to save everyone. I think we are just burdens on each other.

"Its ok. Just don't let your guard down." I replied, "I can't have you disappearing on my watch."

Reaching the slightly open door, I opened it completely and we both entered inside. It turns out to be a long hallway that has two branches, one going forward and one going to my right.

We started walking through the hallway. For most part, the hallway is mostly wooden with a lot of dirt smudges on the walls and the floor. The wooden floor creaks with every step we take, so we have to walk slowly.

We almost reached the branching pathways when I saw someone walking from the right path to the forward path. It was a little girl, about 11 years old, walking quickly as if she is finding something…

 _"_ _Where are you…? Where are you…?"_

The girl is glowing a bright blue. She is dead.

Almost on instinct, I held out the camera and took a picture of the little girl. When I placed the camera away from my eyes, the girl disappeared.

Just knowing that even a child would be here…makes my heart sink.

"You can mourn for your people at a later time, Emil-san." Kiku placed a hand on my shoulder, "When you took that picture of the child, you managed to make a part of her spirit rest from this place since she disappeared afterwards. There will be a sign, if you managed to help a ghost rest in peace completely."

He's right, I can't mourn for them now. At least knowing that I'm helping the little girl move on to the after life eased up a small bit of weight from my heart. Too bad I haven't completely helped her ghost, but its nice to help out.

Deciding to move forward, I went to the forward path where the little girl was heading to. I passed by the other path.

Then I felt a chill that someone is looking at me.

My head immediately faced the other path, but I found that there was nothing there.

Kiku stopped walking when I stopped as well. When I looked back at him, he looked back at me as if he knew what I felt, that slightly angry look of his just screams at me that he knows the feeling.

Signifying that I should move on, I continue forward to the path I chose. There's single door at the end of this pathway.

Opening it, I ended up being surrounded by living room furniture with white clothes covering them. The white sheets accumulated a lot of dust, I'm afraid of touching the furniture if it meant that dust will fly all over the place.

 _"_ _Where are you…? Where are you…?"_

Hearing the voice of that same little girl, I immediately looked around with the sight of the camera. The little girl kept muttering those same words like a mantra, and she sounds more afraid the more she says it.

I'm immediately having trouble finding the source of that voice, looking behind me I even saw Kiku looking around for that girl.

 _"_ _Where are you…?"_

That sounded dangerously close but the echoing sounds makes it hard to find a specific point. Then, I saw something glowing below me.

Removing the camera, I looking below me and saw that same little girl looking at me.

I stared at her with shock, as I'm looking directly at the eyes of a ghost. I became wary of her, as I don't know if she'll attack me or do something to me if I let my guard down.

Kiku pulled me back a bit by my shirt, "Be careful Emil-san!"

When he pulled me back, I focused more on the little girl's face. She's looking directly at me, with those large eyes of hers…those eyes that yell how lost and frightened she really is.

"Wait Kiku." I released myself from his grip and walked up to the little girl, "Are you…looking for someone?"

When I said that to her, I saw her hands covering her face and I could hear small sobs. She's crying…

I knelt down so I could be at her eye level, "Don't cry…you'll be able to rest soon, lítil stúlka…"

She placed down her hands and looked at me again. That's when I noticed something from her body, more specifically at her neck. I can see black jagged lines on her throat and from those lines, I can see a few red colourings…

Something scratched out her neck, which reached her throat and she died by being suffocated by scratches…

 _"_ _Where…are…you…?"_ The little girl looked to my right and pointed at that direction. Over there past some of the tall covered furniture, I can see a small staircase leading upstairs.

Satisfied with knowing another lead, I took my camera out and took a picture of that girl again. Once again, she disappeared afterwards.

Standing up again, I looked at Kiku, who has that look of some shock but at the same time, he looks a bit happy. He didn't smile but I can tell from his eyes.

"…I made the right decision to come to you for help."

Nodding to him, I started to head to the direction where the girl pointed to and that's the staircase that's hidden by some tall furniture.

Reaching the stairs, I was about to immediately walk up when I noticed a small wooden table that has no white cloth over it and on the table is a pen.

"Kiku, do you mind if you can wait? I want to write something."

"Go ahead Emil-san." He nodded, "Its best if you can record your progress."

I kept the camera inside my satchel and got out my light blue journal. I grabbed the pen and started writing my experience so far.

 _Entry no. 1_

 _Kiku and I started our journey through Heiðmörk, then he mentioned how the family has no name tied to them. It reminded me of how Lukas gave this forest its name. The mansion was a lot wider than it is taller, to camouflage it by the trees. When we entered the gate, we became locked in by a blue fog.  
It meant that we can't leave._

 _Exploring the mansion, we saw a ghost of a little girl who kept muttering 'Where are you…?'. I felt horrible, knowing that a little girl died in this god forsaken place. She appeared to me again, leading us to a staircase while muttering those same words._

 _I'll keep going._

* * *

Iceland's first few moments in the mansion. I just hope that I can at least write this genre right...

So please review if you want to say something.


	4. Chapter 3

"Emil-san, what made you decide on bringing that journal with you?"

I stopped writing and faced the Japanese man, "I just…"I looked back to the journal with an unsure smile, "I don't want to forget any of this. I have no idea why, but just the thought of forgetting an experience like this somehow…hurts me. How about you?"

He nodded, "I brought a journal with me as well during my own investigation. I don't like retelling that time, but I also don't want to forget about it either even if its…hell." He paused, "Are you done writing?"

The more he talks about his own investigation, the more intimidated he gets. I know its not a good idea to get him to tell me his own investigation, but I'm just getting curious.

It made me feel guilty.

"…Sorry, Kiku."

"Its ok."

The moment I finished writing my first entry, the pen in my hand vanished into dust. I panicked a bit but that soon went by.

Since I forgot to bring my own pen, I have to make due with finding a pen in this place to write down my entries.

I packed my journal away, "Let's proceed upstairs, where the little girl guided us to."

The stairs are straightforward to the top, but every step I take the wooden floorboards just squeak unnaturally loud. Its even worse than the time when Mathias had a noisy door in his house, which thankfully Berwald fixed before any of our ears bled out.

I stopped when my eyes are at the floor level of the 2nd floor. I peeked around to see if there's anything that will attack us instantly.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I took a few steps further. My heart is beating for some reason, like something's not right. Its a weird feeling, its like I have to prepare for something…

Are my heart beats…connected to the camera?

When I stepped on the top stair, the sound of my heart grew louder. At the same time, my inner emotions are spiralling around me as if an alarm was raised.

My fear is the strongest emotion at the moment.

But what made me feel so afraid is that everything turned darker…like some black fog kicking in the area and made the atmosphere heavy and dark.

"Emil-san, is something the matter?"

I did not look back at him, as I looked to the ground in confusion of my current emotional state, "Hey Kiku, have you heard your heart beats before?"

"Yes?"

"Do you hear them…banging progressively louder? While that is going on, don't you feel like you set off some sort of alarm in your mind? An alarm that raises the feeling of dread? Didn't everything turn darker…?"

"…The camera's link to the user." He interrupted, "Even if we are nations, we are not exempted from the side effects of the camera. It appears that it is already affecting you, in a way where you will feel your fear in an unwanted situation."

I don't like this at all. The camera is the reason why I feel so…hopeless. This is what happened to that Japanese family? Did something like this also happen to Kiku?

I can't think that now, I have to be extremely wary. The 2nd floor of this room appears to be a small attic with its walls covered with white cloth. The only things not covered with the cloth are the celling beams above us and the wooden floor.

This room is entirely a storage area.

However, its hard to ignore the loud thumping sounds of my heart and the feeling of doom inside me.

"Kiku, don't move."

"Emil-san, what're you…?"

I ignored him and proceeded inside the area. When I stepped on what appears to be a dead centre…

Two black ghosts appeared right in front of my face, and they are hanging upside down. Both of them appear to be male ghosts and their limbs are horrifically stretched. Their faces are filled with blood from their wide open mouth gaps.

I can hear those haunting screams again…but this time, the screams are echoing.

"Ah!" I jumped back a bit and I aimed at them with the camera. While the blue circle appears to be charging, both ghosts appear to be swinging from the celling beams. The ghost on the right is much closer to me, so I focused on it first.

The camera charged completely and the right side ghost almost reached me with its swinging. When I felt its arms surrounding me and its face almost in front of mine…

I clicked the trigger.

It then feel to the ground, its unnatural stretched limbs spread out on the ground and its face facing up the celling. It quickly faded away while leaving behind another scream.

Immediately, I faced my left to look for the other ghost but its not there. I looked around frantically for it…

"Emil-san, help!"

I turned around to see the ghost swinging directly in front of Kiku. I immediately ran to his side and snapped an uncharged shot at the ghost.

It swung away from us for a while and I started charging the shot.

However, it immediately lunged towards me and grabbed both of my arms. My eyes widened and I started to panic while flailing my grabbed arms.

"N-no, stay away!" I struggled to release myself from its grip, all the while looking at its black sockets where its eyes should be.

Suddenly, I felt hands grabbing my shoulders and pulling against the ghost. I realised that it is Kiku who is trying to save me from the spirit's grip.

"E-Emil-san! The Shaeiki! Use it, now!"

Without looking through the view, I aimed the camera at the ghost and clicked another shot. It wasn't enough, so I clicked on multiple shots at the ghost, and all of them uncharged. When I felt its grip loosening, I released myself and pushed the ghost away. Like before it swung back, but Kiku pushed me away to the side and we both landed on the ground.

I then looked through the camera and I charged a shot. When the ghost looked at me, I immediately clicked on the trigger and it fell down to the ground.

It disappeared in the same way the other ghost did.

When echoes of screams stopped, we both stayed at the ground, looking at where both ghosts were.

In shock, I inhaled and exhaled at the loudest, trying to get my breath back after that attack. I can hear Kiku also breathing really loud.

However, the sound of my heart beats stopped and my heart is pumping in a normal rate again. I can even feel myself calming down.

"Hey Kiku, I think I figured it out."

"About what?"

"When a spirit intent on attacking me is nearby, my heart goes out of control and my emotions spiral around into fear. When I defeated the 2 ghosts, my heart and my emotions go back to normal." I looked at the camera in my hand, "I think the camera is giving me signals of approaching danger or something."

Long silence followed after my discovery. It made me feel uneasy as to why Kiku hasn't said anything about this yet.

"Emil-san, I need to confess to you about something…" I can hear him sigh, "Those effects you were feeling was also what I felt during my investigation a while ago. The camera has cursed me to give me signals that doom is approaching, and after what I have witnessed, I felt scared of feeling hopeless again. So I…intentionally gave you the camera so that I won't have to feel it again, so I can focus on the objective rather than being haunted by malicious spirits. I'm sorry, Emil-san…I just gave you the curse…"

I don't know what to think about this, so Kiku entrusted me with this camera because he was scared of experiencing those spirits again and confronting them. On the other hand, when he clicked a fully charge shot at the ghost in my house, it resisted the attack and attacked back at him with almost no damage done. When I tried to do the same thing, the ghost was defeated in one shot.

He's right to entrust me with the Camera Obscura.

"I…don't blame you." I replied, "You were really trying hard to avoid talking about the events that has happened to you before, and those events made you scared of wielding this camera but at the same time you wanted to find that family and stop this whole thing altogether."

"But I just…"

"I forgive you." I interrupted him, "You are investigating this place, but it'll be difficult to do that if you are only focused on getting rid of the spirits. Plus, I have my own objective…"

"Your own objective…?"

"I won't rest until I save my own family and my people…even if I have to go through hell." I looked at the camera, "The camera is indeed a curse. However, Its a weapon I can use to fight back to the bastards who took them away from me, and I'm curious as to why they took my family in the first place. Forgive me Kiku, but I'm also only using you to figure out the mystery. You are my only lead."

We are only using each other for our own benefit and we both needed to go to this mansion in order to reach our goals. So I only used him so that I can get more info about the mystery, while he only used me so that he doesn't have to deal with the spirits while investigating.

I'm ok with it.

He stood up, "I forgive you as well." He reached out a hand towards me, "Let's see why that little girl led us here."

I grabbed his hand and I stood up as well.

In this area, the only notable thing here are the walls that are covered. So I went through the room to the far end and grabbed the white sheet. Disregarding the amount of dust the cloth has, I pulled it away in one swift pull. The dust went flying around and we both coughed.

When the dust settled down, I looked at the wall and even though I'm not exactly an enthusiast about what I saw, but I'm pretty amazed to see what was covered up.

The was filled with a large amount of firearms, from the small pistols to the large rifles. They all look old style, so they must be here for many years or so.

"Emil-san, I'm going to remove all of the white sheets…so please cover your nose and mouth."

When I did what he told me, he removed the white sheets covering the side walls and the dust doubled in the air.

After a few minutes, the dust diminished and I looked at the other walls. There were twice as many firearms…

Wait…

On the wall to my right, there's a big space with nothing on it.

"Hey Kiku, look." I pointed to the space, "There's a big space there."

He went closer to the empty space on the wall, with me following behind him. There are empty hooks on the wall, meant to hold up a firearm. Judging by the space, the firearm that's missing is a rifle.

"Someone took a rifle." I said, "Must be for self defence."

"Except its useless against spirits. What if-huh…?" He paused and reached out to the rifle next to the empty space, "There's a paper there…"

He reached out to the piece of paper that's stuck behind the rifle and pulled it out. He unfolded the paper and read the contents. After a while, his eyes widened and he gasped. I grew a bit concerned.

"What is it, Kiku?"

"Y-y-you…might want to read this." He handed me the paper and I began reading it out loud.

 _"_ _I don't know what's going on, I don't know why I'm here, or why that Icelandic sounding ghost attacked us in my house and showed me a vision of this place. We had to run out of my house._

 _I went to Iceland to check what that vision meant, but I can't tell Emil. He'll just be curious and come with me, but I know he'll get hurt and I can't risk it if a ghost attacked him. I can't even tell the rest of the Nordics, even Berwald._

 _We found this mansion inside Heiðmörk and we decided to check it inside. We were locked from going out, so we can't turn back even if we wanted to._

 _We spent a long time exploring this place, and we even avoided encounters with the other ghosts. It felt like such a long time passed since we arrived, but the night sky hasn't moved an inch…_

 _We found this room, a room filled with covered furniture and I saw a little girl who's already dead. She lead us up here, and when I peeked through the cloths, I saw a rifle. I grabbed the rifle and slid this note behind the rifle next to the one I took._

 _If anyone is reading this, I'll let you know that I'm still alive. We are still alive. Hanatamago and I are still alive._

 _-Tino Vainamoine"_

"T-Tino?!" I yelled out of instinct and shock, "Tino…passed by here!"

"There a chance that Tino-kun is still alive, even if he went missing for two months!" Kiku yelled out, "Its only a matter of time before we see him!"

I felt happy to know that Tino is really hanging on to his own life for such a long period of time, but I'm a bit surprised that Hanatamago (His dog) went with him. Then again, Tino loves that dog very much.

I placed his letter inside my journal.

"The other branching pathway back at the hall." I said as I headed for the stairs, "If the same little girl led Tino here before, and led us here now, then I think she led him to the other branching path."

"Plus, she came from that other path. There's a chance that Tino might be somewhere past that path. Let's go."

We headed back downstairs to the area with the covered furniture, and something changed about the area. All of the furniture are uncovered, and probably the most grotesque sight I ever had in life just happened.

All of the furniture pieces…have faces on them. Not simple faces, but the faces similar to the spirits that I fought. The faces are covering the furniture, and some of them are moving their mouths. From the faces, they made housing noises of pain, and Its chilling me to no end. I felt Kiku pushing me to move forward quickly.

"H-hurry, take a picture…" He muttered.

Before we went though the door, I faced back to the howling furniture and snapped a picture with the camera. When the image formed, the faces of the furniture faded away, and another image faded in.

It appears to be a location outside, with the subject of the picture being a large white sheet hanging on a clothesline. Its a picture of laundry hanging outside.

Finally, we left the room and leaned against the wall. I slid down to the ground, looking at the camera and thinking of the image that I saw.

"Kiku, when I took a picture of those faces, I saw another image." I faced him, "It appears to be location outside, where laundry is drying."

"Hmmm…for those faces to show an image like that…" Kiku pondered on, "I think the other branching path leads to a part of the backyard."

I stood up, "We won't know unless we check it out."

I continued on my way with Kiku following behind me. When we reached the other branching path, I almost expected another ghost to pop out of me like what happened when I passed by here earlier. However, nothing happened.

Through the other path, we walked slowly through it with my camera prepared to protect us. We reached the dead end of the path and a single door lies there.

I slowly opened the door, and I can hear the sound of a machine running. Its not a modern machine, but it sounding like a sewing machine.

Right I was.

The room is filled with clothes. In the middle is a table with the running sewing machine, with some clothes next to it. In the walls are paintings of some people wearing different types of clothes, from the Japanese style to the European style. They must be models for whoever is creating these clothes here.

There are mannequins here wearing some completed outfits, and some mannequins that appeared to be destroyed. There are clothes on the ground, and and of those clothes are ripped apart.

Whoever lived here must be a talented tailor and fashion designer.

I went to the sewing machine since it caught my attention entirely and I was careful of touching it, since it was running and I can hurt my hands there. Underneath the machine is another piece of paper, and it has the faded yellow color unlike Tino's letter from the storage room.

I took the paper and unfolded it. I can't read it at all, its in Japanese. It looks very short.

"Kiku." I handed him the paper, "Can you read this out loud in English? Its written in Japanese."

He took the letter from my hand and began reading it out loud.

" _I decided to take my career of fashion designing here. Even though I don't want to see anyone, I need to make a living here. Since I'm a bit known back in Japan, I might as well work incognito."_ He stopped reading it, "That's all."

"So whoever lives here has a career in fashion…" I commented, "It could be anyone, as even fashion designing is not totally geared towards women."

"Are you sure? Fashion designing is sought after by a lot of women…" Kiku said.

"But there are also a lot of successful male fashion designers too. Michael Kors, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein…in fact, most of the richest male designers are Italian men. Why do you think Feliciano and Lovino both have a seriously good sense of fashion? Alfred seems to have a good sense as well, if we disregard his loud personality…"

"Yes, I should know about Feli-kun and Lovino-san…" Kiku laughed, "I'm surprised that you know much about the business."

Me and my big mouth…

"L-let's say I-I…got bored, and did some research…" My face grew red and I looked away from him, "Plus, I'm sort of interested in it as well. I designed my own clothes and had them tailor made. Can we move on to the real topic now?"

"Right, sorry about that." He observed the paper again, "So we can't tell if its the mother, the son, or the daughter who has a career in fashion, and its obviously not the father since I already handled that. But at least we know how the person who lived here made a living." I grabbed the paper he was holding.

Calming down a bit after that fashion designing talk and placing the note in my journal, I observed some of the clothes next to the machine. The clothes here, appear to be kimonos, as I recognised an oriental style in some of the patterns, as well as the obi-sash (I was incredibly bored that day…).

That's when I heard something rattle.

It took us both by surprise and started looking through the camera to prepare myself for an attack.

"Emil-san…" Kiku pointed to our right, "Over there…"

Where he pointed at was a large wooden closet, and its shaking really hard. I can't hear any other noises from inside the closet, but I feel as though I should open it.

"I'll open it." I walked closer to the closet slowly, "Stay far away, ok?"

Kiku nodded, and I am now standing in front of the closet. It continued to shake, and I can hear loud bangs on the closet doors. The handles of the double doors are tied together by what appears to be a red scarf.

I breathed in as I started uniting the knot. However, I don't have this sense of danger within me, like I really should untie the scarf and release what was banging around in the closet.

When I completely removed the scarf, I threw it to the side and opened the doors.

Something small jumped at me and pushed me to the ground, landing on my back. I closed my eyes in the pain of falling hard to the ground.

"H-hey! Get off me!" I yelled out, trying to move aside whoever pushed me down.

Not being able to see anything, I used my hands to try to grab it. However, I felt like I was holding something soft like fur…and I can feel a tail wagging at my hands…

When I opened my eyes, I saw Hanatamago's face in front of me.

"H-Hanatamago?!" I yelled out as I sat up. Hanatamago looked at me with her dog face, and I saw tears in her eyes. She looked so afraid…

I hugged the dog, "Its ok Hana…Its me, Emil…I-I came here to save you and everyone else…"

It has been a long time since I felt so…happy. Seeing Hanatamago alive and with me is a hopeful feeling.

However that hopeful feeling went away quickly, when my heart started beating its loudest and my fear ran in. At the same time, the sewing machine stopped working and everything became eerily quiet…

"K-Kiku!" I handed Hana to him, "Take Hana and get to the door!"

When he and Hana ran to the other door that leads to another room, I stayed by the closet and looked through my surroundings with the camera. I desperately tried to find what made me so fearful, and not knowing where the ghost is, is making my breaths louder and louder.

I looked through to see two headless and limbless mannequins and they started to distort. Soon, a head popped out of the mannequins and the limbs went out as well. They appear to be women with a mannequin's body.

They aimed themselves towards me slowly while howling out grotesque sounds. The blue circle in the camera started to charge. When the circle is fully charged, I clicked the trigger and I caught those two ghosts in my shot since they were in sight of the camera.

Instead of disappearing immediately, they just stood back and covered their faces in pain. The mannequin bodies must have made them resist the shot a bit, but when they were covering their faces in pain, the circle in my view turned red. Almost on instinct, I took another picture again and they writhed even more in pain.

They didn't disappear yet and since the red circle is still there, I took the picture again. They both then broke down and disappeared, leaving behind the mannequin bodies they possessed. My heart returned to normal.

"Oh god…" I muttered. I then went to Kiku's side, "Are you both ok?"

"Yes, we are." Kiku looked down to the dog in his arms, "However, I don't know about Hana-chan…"

With my free hand, I rubbed the dog's head and she looked at me. She must have cried again when those ghosts appeared.

"i don't think those ghosts locked Hanatamago inside that closet…" I said, "I think it was Tino."

"But why would Tino-kun lock her inside?"

"I don't know if I'm right, but I think at this point they were being chased. When they went to this room, he decided to lock Hana inside the closet so that the ghosts won't go after her." I felt my face frown, "But that also meant that he's their main target…"

Immediately after I said that, my heart started to ache and the beating came back, but it became louder. It hurts so much, I grabbed my chest in an attempt to ease the pain but nothing happened.

"E-Emil-san! Emil-san!" He yelled out. Hanatamago then jumped out of Kiku's arms and started to push my feet away from the door. Slowly walking and enduring the pain, I walked away from the door and to the sewing machine. Soon, the pain stopped.

"What was that…?" I muttered.

Kiku walked to me, "What happened there?"

"I don't know. My heart started to hurt and those heart beats were like a drum in my ears…I think whatever is through that door must be something powerful. I wasn't prepared for that…so I guess that's why it hurts so much."

I then saw Hanatamago growling at the door and barking loudly. She then ran to the door and scratched it, trying to open it.

"Hana-chan!" Kiku scooped up the dog in his arms, "I think Hana saw something go through there earlier…"

" _Where are you…?"_

When I heard that voice again, I saw that same ghost girl, and she is standing right next to me. She seems different now, as she is glowing much brighter than when we saw her before.

She then pointed to the door, leading me to go there. But instead of disappearing, she…

She gave me an innocent smile.

 _"_ _Y-you…found…her. Please…save…him. Find…where…are…you?"_

You found her? Please save him? Find…find who she is looking for?

She then pointed to the camera. I think…this is the actual ghost, not just fragmented spirits. I aimed my camera at her and she still showed off that innocent smile. When I clicked the trigger, my sight grew white and I found myself having another vision.

* * *

 _A little girl is hiding in a closet, shivering as she held her legs closer to her and hiding her face._

 _"_ _Where are you…? Where are you…? Save me…!"_

 _The closet door opened and a ghost possessing a mannequin grabbed her neck and started scratching it deep, with a lot of blood oozing out._

 _"_ _A-ack…g-ga…W-where…are…you…?"_

* * *

I blinked when that vision ended. Ignoring the concerning eyes of Kiku and Hanatamago, I looked at the now open closet and went closer to it. I looked inside thoroughly, and I saw what I was afraid of seeing…

It was a corpse, the corpse of the little girl who has been guiding us up until now. The corpse's neck has many open scratch wounds that look deep and the blood dried into an ugly brownish red, her eyes rolled up to her skull.

In sadness, I took a step inside the large closet and closed the lids of the girl's eyes.

"Rest in peace, lítil stúlka…"I said to the corpse before closing the closet.

"Emil-san." Kiku grabbed on to my shoulder and I looked back at him, "That girl…I think she said that you finally found Hana-chan, and when she said 'please save him' I think she meant that we have to save Tino-kun. Her last words…meant the person she was looking for."

"I thought the same too." I said, "On the way, let's find whoever that girl is looking for, so that she can rest easily."

We then heard Hanatamogo growl again at the door and she's barking louder than ever. I think she's telling us to go through that door, but my heart ached when I went near the door…

I grabbed Hanatamago into my arms and handed her to Kiku. He looked confused as he took the dog.

"Kiku, I think I'll be battling something at the other side of that door. I feel as though its going to be very dangerous, so I want you and Hanatamago to exit this mansion."

"What? But Emil-san, what about you?"

"I'm going to fight. if Hana's going to continue growling at the door like that, then I have to stop her by going through it." I gave Kiku and Hana a smile, "So please, get out of this mansion first. Once I'm done, I'll go out of this mansion too."

Kiku gave me a long stare, telling me how extremely worried he'll be, and he nodded. Then then exited the room, but not before giving me a sad face and Hana looking at me with those large puppy eyes.

Now I'm all alone here. I felt scared but I have to go through that door…

However, I saw a pen next to the sewing machine suddenly. I decided to write down my next entry.

 _Entry no. 2_

 _We found a room filled with firearms…and there, we found a note from Tino, indicating that he's alive. We then ended up inside a tailor room, where we found out that the owner of this place is a fashion designer(Which begs the question of why a fashion designer has a ton of firearms in one room. Kiku did say that they are collectors of antiques and the guns do look pretty old.)In this room, we found Hanatamago trapped inside a closet and she kept growling at the other door. My heart ached when I went near that door, so I sent Kiku and Hana outside of the mansion, because I knew somehow that whatever I'll be facing is going to be powerful._

 _While all this is going on, we were attacked by hostile ghosts and my heart beats become loud, and my vision became darker when one is near. I could use this to detect hostile ghosts in order to avoid any casualties. Kiku said that its a side effect from using the camera. I also took a picture of the ghost girl again and she disappeared, leaving behind a vision on how she died. It was horrible to see her die like that._

When I finished the entry, the pen once again faded away in my hands. I placed the journal back in my bag and stood in front of the door. My heart ached, but now knowing what's going to happen at the other side, I can tolerate the pain.

Tino, hold on. I'll save you.

* * *

I don't think this story will have a lot of chapters, but only time will tell.

So please leave a review if you want to say something!


	5. Chapter 4

Still feeling the pain of my heart beats, and noticing the darkening environment, I opened the door and closed it behind me.

I was greeted with the odd and dramatic winds of the outside.

Looks like I'm outside the mansion, albeit there's no way to get to the main front from here. I can still see that the blue fog is surrounding the area, so why are the winds here?

As the wind blows, I hear the flapping of clothes.

In front of me is a surprisingly large area, filled with clotheslines and hanging on the clotheslines are various clothes. However, the clothes…I can see the clothes, but why are all of them black?

Nothing is going on besides the winds and the flowing clothes, so I progressed forward to see what made me feel…alarmed.

Ugh, I don't know how long I can handle this…

But I have to endure it.

Pushing past the clothes directly, I ended up being surrounded by them. How much clothes does this one person have? Well, I guess if this person works as a fashion designer, then I think some of these clothes are for the clients. Tch…most of these clothes are unisex, so I can't guess who lives here based on outfits.

When I pushed myself away from the last row of clothes, I saw another clothesline far away from the other clotheslines. On that clothesline is a single large white sheet, standing out from the black clothes. For some reason, its flowing more vigorously than the other clothes…

Of course its different, its the same place the faces from the storage room showed me.

Stay strong…stay strong…

Walking incredibly slow to the white sheet with my emotions going out of control and the surroundings becoming darker is nerve wracking by itself. It feels like something big is going to happen, something that's not in my favour at all.

Don't mess this up…I can do it…

Taking the camera out, I looked at the white sheet but I didn't take a picture yet. I was hesitant…I kept staring at that piece of cloth and I can't even tell if time is flowing anymore…

Take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…take the picture…picture…picture…picture…picture…picture…picture…

TAKE THE FUCKING PICTURE!

I don't know what's going on over me, but I'm starting to become an emotional wreck. Yet, I managed to keep my face as neutral as possible…that doesn't sound good at all.

"AARGH!" With a yell, I clicked the trigger on the camera. There, that wasn't so bad…

Heh, that's so wrong of me to say…

When the picture formed, what I saw made my blood chill and my spine tingle. In the picture, the white sheet suddenly turned black like ink was running through it. However, the ink missed a big spot…

That spot is a human shape.

"W-what…?"

Before I can even say anymore, I heard gunshots that startled me. The sounds are as weird as the winds, as I'm hearing the sounds from all over…

That's when I felt a strong pressure to my right, a little too close to my arm…

I quickly looked behind me, but nothing was there other than the other black clothes. However, that was the moment when the winds become too strong that all of the clothes flew upwards.

My eyes widened as I saw something…something that…that…no…no…!

There is a ghost…a pitch black ghost, like a 3d shadow that rose up from a figure. The figure has dirt marks and possibly some wound marks that are grudgingly white instead of red. Its as if the ghost is a reverse monochrome filter. Its even holding a rifle that has color, so the ghost did not originally had it before.

However, what made me so shocked…so scared…oh god…

This ghost looks exactly like Tino. His face is pure black and his eyes are pure white…and unlike the happy Finn, this one is…petrifying.

"N-No!" I yelled out, "Tino!"

When I saw the pitch black ghost point its rifle at me, I immediately ran to my left and barely dodged that single shot. After that shot was fired, the wind stopped and the clothes flowed down, covering the ghost.

That ghost looks exactly like Tino…dammit, what happened to him?! What happened…

So this is the reason why my heart ached so much earlier…I-I…

I have to save him.

I decided to go back to the rows of black clothes to find that ghost. This area is so large that the ghost made it it's battlefield.

The clotheslines are close together, so I'm somewhat covered up by the clothes. I ran through the clothes quickly to find that pitch black ghost…

When a long sleeved shirt and a kimono grabbed my arms and wrapped it selves around them. Shit, the ghost is controlling the area!

"Let me go! No! Let me go! Let go!" I struggled to remove my arms but the clothes are too strong. My right hand is holding the camera, so I have to be extra careful to not drop it to the ground. However, that's the arm where I struggled the most.

That's when the wind blew strong and the clothes flew upwards again besides the two pieces that are holding my limbs in place.

The ghost is in my sight, but its quite a distance far so its walking slowly towards me with that unnerving face. This is where my adrenaline pumped in, and I struggled even harder to release myself.

I managed to release my left arm from the black shirt, but I'm holding the camera with my right hand.

I then saw the ghost pointing its rifle at me.

With my left hand, I release my right arm from the black kimono in a quick hurry and immediately snapped an uncharged shot. However, I missed the face and the camera took the picture of the rifle.

This however made the ghost drop the rifle in pain, as I also caught its hands in the shot. When it dropped the rifle, it started to slowly walk towards me with its hands stretching out, intending to strangle me.

The camera started to charge the shot as I focused on the face. The moment its face was right in front of me is when I clicked the trigger of a charged shot.

The ghost fumbled back and the circle turned red again, just like what happened with the two ghosts in the tailor room. I took another picture with the red circle and the ghost screamed in pain, and it screamed again when I took a third shot.

It then disappeared but not in the way that I defeated it. It must have moved itself.

The winds stopped and the clothes flowed down. Since I was caught in a trap earlier, I have to be careful of the black clothes as they can stop me from taking a picture.

I heard another gunshot, and I can see the bullet in front of me since the clothes in front of me have a small burning hole through them. I have to end this quickly, or I'll have a bullet in my heart and I start seeing pure black.

Wait…my heart…pure black…

In my adrenaline earlier, I stopped feeling my heart beats but my vision became darker. What if I can…sense a trap with this other sense?

Speed walking through the row, I felt my heart beats becoming louder and my vision became darker. Almost on instinct, I took an uncharged picture of the clothes in front of me and to my surprise, the clothes flowed without any wind flowing through.

Looks like I was right.

I started my search for the ghost through this maze of clothes, snapping pictures of clothes that will definitely trap me.

That was when I saw another bullet shot through in front of me. I stopped in my tracks, any further and I'll be shot. The direction of the bullet came from my right, so I immediately passed by the rows and ended up where the sheet with the human shaped print is.

The ghost by the sheet is glaring at me and pointed that rifle to me. I dodged to my left and in my haste, I took an uncharged photo and I managed to take a shot of the ghost's face.

To my surprise, that did nothing.

"What…? That did not work…?!" I muttered to myself. That's when I remembered what I did moments ago.

I took a picture of that rifle earlier and it became vulnerable afterwards.

Taking a mental note of my plan, I dodged another shot from the rifle and while I did, I took a picture of that rifle. Even though I could see that the ghost got hurt from that picture, it resisted from dropping the rifle again.

Tch…

When I dodged the next shot, but very barely as I'm almost certain I felt that bullet on my clothes, I took another picture of that rifle. Finally, it dropped that weapon and started to walk towards me.

I charged the shot again but I noticed that the ghost became faster. I had to take a few steps back but I can't let that ghost out of my sight. The ghost proved to be faster than me, and I can feel it's hands strangling my neck.

At that moment, the charge is complete and I immediately took a picture of its face. Once I did, it released me from its icy grip and it released a blood chilling yell much louder than the other ghosts. The circle became red and I snapped more pictures at the ghost.

After multiple shots, the ghost finally tumbled down to the ground but to my horror it did not disappear.

Instead, multiple blue glowing circles appeared at the ghost's feet. I stepped back but I noticed how the ghost continued to writhe in pain. Is the circle doing something harmful to the ghost…?

Or is it…doing something horrible to Tino?!

I quickly looked at the circle with my camera and snapped a picture at it along with the ghost, but afterwards no effect has taken place. Damn it, this is just telling me that something possessed Tino!

…Wait…is that what really happened?! I don't know…I don't know…

"Damn it!" I yelled out, not knowing what's going to happen.

The circle on the ground emitted a pillar of blue light that covered up the…'ghost' completely. Once a moment went by, the pillar disappeared.

It left behind a really exhausted looking Finn on the ground, looking as if he ran a marathon across the world. I don't care at this rate, I'm just really happy to see him.

I knelt down to his level, "Tino! Are you ok?!"

"Ugh…" He rubbed his forehead before looking at me with out-of-character dull eyes, "Emil…? Wh-what're you doing here…?!" He seemed to wake up completely just from seeing me here. I took a breath in and sighed out.

"At least you are ok."

"W-wait, Emil! Why are you here?! I never told anyone of this place!"

I see, he doesn't remember being possessed by something.

"Tino I…came here to save everyone."

"Everyone?" He looked at me with disbelief, "Why, who?"

"You, Berwald, Matthias, and Lukas. Each and every one of you went missing, and you all left me alone." I stood up and offered my arm to the Finn, "So I came with Kiku to look for you all."

"What?! Everyone's gone?! What's Kiku doing here?" He looked at the ground, "D-did I start those chain of events…? No…Its my fault everyone's gone…"

I shook my head, "No, it isn't. I found your letter in the room filled with firearms. You summarized a lot in your letter, but you have to explain what exactly happened."

He grabbed my hand and stood up, "Ok, I'll say everything. First of all though…did I…try to kill you earlier…?"

This caught my attention and I couldn't pass it up. Might as well tell him the truth, "I think something possessed you and used you to kill me. There were so many times where I could have had a bullet in my heart."

"Argh, no way…" He let out a really solemn expression, "How could something use me to kill you…? Emil, I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't you in the first place, so there's no need to apologize."

Soon, the winds perked up again and I saw that black stained sheet with the human shape flow really vigorously. The sheet flew out of the clothesline and started flying around with the odd directions of the wind. I hate to admit it, but its a sight to behold…

Yes…something stained in black…flowing with the wind…so dark…so dark…so…beautiful…

"EMIL!"

I blinked a couple of times in shock, as I saw Tino looking at me with scared and worried eyes. I'm confused, why is he looking at me like that…? I then felt something on my feet, and I found out the the sheet, now mysteriously white, is laying on the ground below me.

"Emil, don't freak me out like that!" He grabbed one of my shoulders, "You were looking at that sheet and you kept saying the word 'dark' over and over…"

"I-I did…?" I placed my free left hand on my forehead. Before I can say anything else, I saw something appear on the white sheet beneath me. In black ink, the word say…

 _Help._

"Help…?" I repeated the word, however soon afterwards Tino grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the white sheet.

"I don't know what's going on in this place, but let's leave the area! I'm not letting you have another trance in my watch!"

Help? Help what? Why is that word ringing in my head like an echo? However, I managed to distract myself by replying to Tino.

"Kiku and Hanatamago are outside at the front gate. Let's head outside."

"Wait, you guys found Hanatamago?" He let out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness she's ok!"

Seeing Tino relax a bit is somewhat helping me relax as well, but I still have this heavy weight on my chest since I can't relax yet.

* * *

The moment we walked out of the mansion with, luckily no trouble, Kiku bombarded me with questions as to what happened in my time inside but I told him that i'll explain in a bit. Hanatamago jumped unto Tino's arms and they both laughed at being reunited and safe from trouble.

We all leaned against the outside walls of the mansion and we began talking about our experiences so far. We started with Tino, who explained why he went here in the first place.

It turns out that our theory is correct, something sent a ghost to Tino's house and drove him away from the house. He had a vision about this forest in Iceland and a mansion, which happens to be this one. He went here in hopes to find out why there's a ghost in his house, but he couldn't tell us because he doesn't want us to be hurt and there's a big chance that we won't believe him.

When he was in the mansion, he wandered around the mansion for answers.

"That reminds me." Tino grabbed out a piece of paper from his pocket, "I found this, but its written in Japanese. Since your here Kiku, can you translate it to english?"

"Of course, Tino-kun." He grabbed the paper and began reading out loud the contents in english, " _We are sent to different countries, because our curse has doomed our close ones and even killed closest friends. I was sent here to Iceland, an isolated nation, and I agreed. In incognito, I managed to make a living by selling some of my clothes and other designs by faking my name. So far, nothing bad has happened and I thought that I could finally live peacefully. I wish it was like this forever…but I miss my family, I wonder how they are doing? I hope they can live as well as I currently am…god, its so lonely here…I miss my—"_

"Not good, it was cut out. I think this person is about to mention a family member." Kiku sounded disappointed.

What a shame, we could've found out who lived here.

Afterwards, Kiku and I explained what happened while he, Tino, was gone. He seemed especially stricken once I mentioned how Berwald was dedicated to look for him, and even more so when he went missing. I can't blame him for reacting like that, Berwald is the closest to him. I then mentioned how Matthias disappeared, and this just makes him feel even more guilty.

Then I mentioned to him the events this morning in my house, of how a ghost appeared and tried to kill me, and how Kiku appeared to save me. I was slightly hesitant but I told him about how Lukas disappeared this morning, and that's what triggered me to search for all of them myself.

It looked like Tino was taking this hard, because of how he lost track of time and never realised that two months has passed since he disappeared. The mansion is shrouded in night that doesn't seem to move, so anyone can easily lose track of time. I'm just as equally surprised that he managed to survive two months here all by himself, as well as Hanatamago.

It was Kiku's turn to talk and he repeated what he told me this morning, about the reason he's here and about the family in Japan that has been cursed by the very camera I'm holding.

"Wait, doesn't that mean that you and Emil…are cursed by the camera as well?"

"We are nations, and from my experience we are not as affected by the camera as that family was." Kiku then looked at me, "You are still ok, right Emil-san?"

I nodded, "Yeah, nothing has happened to me so far." For some reason, Tino looked at me after I replied. He had this face of confusion and worry when he looked at me, almost as if I said the wrong thing.

However, I'm fine. Right?

Afterwards, we became silent and no one spoke. I felt really exhausted, and I know that everyone else is exhausted. Kiku fell into a nap and so did Hanatamago in Tino's arms. Even though I felt really tired, I couldn't sleep, and Tino isn't sleeping either.

Instead, we remained silent and the air became awkward all of a sudden. Soon, Tino started to giggle, which surprised me a bit.

"What's so funny, Tino?"

"I was thinking about that rifle I picked up."

Ok, thinking about a firearm and laughing about it sounds really scary.

"Why did you grab a rifle anyway?"

"A sense of protection." He stopped laughing, "I had to protect myself and Hanatamago, so when that ghost girl led us there, I grabbed one immediately and left a note. It was the first room we arrived in anyway. I couldn't hurt the ghosts, but I used the sounds of bullet fire to distract them so that we can run away from them. Thanks to that rifle, we avoided danger. Until I was somehow possessed…"

I paused a bit and I remembered something, "Was it you who locked Hanatamago in that closet?"

He nodded, "Yeah, we were chased by a lot of ghosts and when I saw that closet, I immediately locked Hanatamago inside to keep her safe."

"Did you know that inside that closet is the corpse of the ghost girl who led you to that room with the firearms?"

He looked at me wide-eyed, "Really?! Oh my god…that girl looks too young…"

We remained silent, probably to respect the dead girl who reunited me with Tino again.

"But I have another reason why I laughed because of a rifle." He paused, "Do you remember the time where I shot an apple out of your hand when I was practicing sniping?"

Oh yeah, I remember that…

* * *

 _Tino is practicing shooting with a rifle in the garden of my house. I was around to watch him practice alongside Lukas._

 _"Tino is incredibly accurate and deadly with that rifle…" I muttered._

 _"He is. I can't even tell if he taught Simo Häyhä how to snipe or vice-versa." Lukas replied, "Whatever it is, Tino has the best sniper in the world in his domain and he himself is a deadly sniper himself."_

 _I was fascinated at how Tino is accurate with that rifle, and how he managed to even shoot the smallest targets._

 _I reached out to the plate of snacks next to me and grabbed an apple, "I wonder how far his skills are…"_

 _Soon, I felt my hand burning up and the apple flew away from my hand at a ridiculous speed. Lukas and I soon realized that Tino shot that apple right out of my hand…and my hand is still attached to my body._

 _I looked at the scene with amazement, I mean, how many people can shoot a small apple out of a person's hands without harming the person?! Ok, maybe those knife throwers from the circus, but this is a rifle! Its awesome!_

 _"TINO!" Lukas stood up in rage all of a sudden and walked angrily to the Finn, "What you did was extremely dangerous!"_

 _Just seeing Lukas all this raged up caught us both off guard._

 _"Lukas, wai-"_

 _"You could've shot off my little brother's hand! And if that were to happen, I'll beat you up until nothing is left!"_

* * *

"I remembered how furious Lukas was, which is extremely rare to see out of him." Tino laughed, "Sure I felt guilty for doing that, but that reaction of his was so amusing that I didn't care if I had to be the maid in your house for a week as punishment!"

"Well, I thought what you did was awesome." I laughed, "I'll let you practice sniping at my house again, we just can't tell Lukas from now on."

"Deal."

Silence came after a few fits of laughter. I really missed this…I really miss having my family around me and now one of them is with me.

"So…after Kiku wakes up, you guys will go back to the mansion?"

I nodded solemnly, "I have to. I need to save everyone else. You and Hanatamago need to stay out here since the ghosts can't come out here thanks to the paper charms."

"I…understand." He sighed, "Just promise me you will make it out safely. Value your life, Emil."

I nodded and a yawn came out of my mouth. Then I suddenly remembered that I need to write down in my journal. Shoot, I don't have a pen…Then I remembered that Tino wrote a note earlier, so he must have a pen.

"Hey Tino, do you have a pen?"

"Ah! Wait…" He searched his pockets and he grabbed one out, "For some reason, this pen just rolled to me so I picked it up. I used it to write my note."

Feeling tired, I didn't bother asking Tino how this pen lasted for him when the other pens I used dissolved in my hands. I then started writing my next entry.

 _Entry no. 3_

 _I ended up battling a ghost in an outer area with black clothes on clotheslines. The ghost had a rifle, and it was controlling the area so I had difficulty. However, I managed to defeat it but to my shock,_

 _The ghost is actually Tino, who was possessed by one. I felt extremely happy to be reunited with him, and we led him outside where its safe. We both then talked about some things to lighten the mood somewhat, but I know that I have to go back in that mansion to save everyone else._

Right after finishing that short entry, the pen dissolved in my hands. Figures.

My eyes started to droop down and I became incredibly tired. Tino noticed this and allowed me to lay down on his lap.

I looked at the dark sky before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Iceland is sleepy and I am sleepy. My drive to write somehow only works at night...

So please review if you want to say something!


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